>> would the secretary please -- >> good morning, commissioners. [roll call] >> all right. good morning, everyone. >> good morning. >> please note that, due to the covid-19 health emergency and to protect board members, city employees and the public at the commission room at city hall is now closed. however, members will be participating in the meeting remotely at the same extent as if they were physically present. we ask for your palm beachsinger and we may experience some issues. public comment will be available for each item on the agenda. each speaker will be given two minutes to speak. comments or opportunities to speak are available via phone by calling 877-402-9756 or 636-651-3142. the access code is 5713184 #. when you are connected, dial 1 and then 0 to be added to the queue to speak. you will be lined up in the system in the order you dial 1 and 0. the slm notify when you are in line and waiting. all callers will remain on mute until their line is open. everyone must account for the time delays and speaking discrepancies between live coverage and streaming. we suggest listeners on the phone turn down your televisions or web browsers while you're listening on the phone. if, for any reason, the queue drops or the system drops a call, you are more than welcome to e-mail the commission at recspark.commission@sfgov.org. alternatively, if you are not on the call but still wish to submit comments or questions, again, recpark.commission@sfgov.org. you may also submit comments via written -- in writing to the s.f. recreation and parks commission to our office and know that it is being record and will be available on sfgov tv right now. we are now on the president's report, item two >> thank you, stacey. this is certainly an historic time and i believe the first time that the commission has tried to entertain having a meeting by telephone but we are up to the task and i congratulate all the commissioners for being present today. i want to just make one comment that, in these challenging times, i think we can all be particularly proud of the leadership of the city, starting with the mayor and the very early and decisive action that she took to provide the guidelines and the rules for orderly conducting of business and, at the same time, having everyone in residence and trying to be six feet apart from everyone. having said that, i want to particularly congratulate the rec and park department staff for rising to the occasion and add to the leadership of the department because i think that they've been working tirelessly with the city, many of these projects don't fall necessarily within the responsibility of the department, but it shows the flexibility and the ability to respond to these issues as they arise. so, with that, that concludes my report. and i will turn it back over to secretary. >> thank you, commissioner buell. we're now in public comment. please dial 1 and then 0 to be added to the queue to speak. you will have two minutes to comment. operator: you have five questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hello. my name is nancy buson. >> and your comment? >> caller: yes. thank you, commissioners. as someone who lives in san francisco and loves our parks, i'm asking recreation and parks department to prioritize car-free spaces in golden gate park and in parks city-wide starting now and expanding immediately after the shelter in place order is lifted. >> [inaudible] a. ms. buson, you can actually make that comment on item four, general public comment because that is something that is not on the agenda. yes. thank you very much. operator: you have eight questions remaining. >> i think, stacey, you are going to have to remind people that this is not general public comment, but you're asking for comments on the president report. >> i will do that. for anyone that is currently in the queue, we are now on item 2, the president's report. if you want to respond or comment or have questions on any item that is not on the agenda, you will have time to comment on items 4 and item 8. so, again, comment right now is only on the president's report. is there someone on the line? >> i think we can move on, stacey. >> yeah. operator: you have five questions remaining. >> so if you want to get off the queue and do not want to comment on the president's report, dial 1-0 and you will be put back in the queue far later time. ok? -- for a later time, ok? operator: you have two questions remaining. >> hello, caller. you have two minutes. how can i help you? >> i think there are technical difficulties here. waiting to comment on the report. >> ok. thank you. operator: you have three questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. operator: you have two questions remaining. >> for anyone currently in the queue, we're going to go on ahead -- operator: you have one question remaining. >> sounds like a good idea, stacey. [laughter] >> yes. we're going to go ahead and move on. operator: you have zero questions remaining. >> ok. hearing no further -- operator: you have zero questions remaining. >> hearing no further callers, public comment is now closed on item two. we're now on item three, the general manager's report. >> good morning, commissioners. can everybody hear me? >> yep. >> yes. >> good morning. >> hi. good morning. i wanted to take some time today to thank you for your continueded leadership through this ongoing emergency and also to obviously wish you and your families continued health and safety as our city meets this challenge head-on. obviously as president buell noted, no one could have foreseen the widespread and profound effects that covid-19 has had on our daily lives and on our park system. and while we have been in communication about -- with each other about the developments around the virus and its effect on our parks, i wanted to share with you an update on where our department stands. to date, the following facilities are closed pursuant to the current health alert, which is effective, i believe, until may 4. those facilities and park features include sport courts, which include all basketball, tennis and pickleball courts, picnic areas, which include barbecue areas, playgrounds, outdoor fitness courts, our golf courses, swimming pools, enclosed dog parks, archery ranges, skate board parks, south sunset mission playground, garfield and franklin athletic fields. twin peaks boulevard, twin peaks road, coit tower, parking lots at ocean beach, marina green and little marina greens. golden gate park ornamental gardens, including the botanical gardens, conservatory of flowers and japanese garden. [inaudible] facilities including angler's lodge, the lawn bowling club, disc golf, carousel and [inaudible] boat house. in addition all the regular recreation program, permits, community meetings and volunteer event have been suspended and we continue to evaluate other programs and events as the situation evolves and as we get further guidance from the health department. construction on many nonessential capital projects has also been suspended, although we're pleased to note that some projects that meet essential criteria have been allowed to continue and including the chalmers playground project, which is very close to completion and garfield pool, geneva car barn, which is close to completion, the golden gate tennis project, margaret haywood park playground project, west portal playground project, the marina sea wall project and the [inaudible] security project. many, many, many other capital projects in our system have been suspended until we get guidance from our public health officials that it is ok to pursue it. i'm very pleased to note that all other parks and open spaces are currently open, in which we have ample signage encouraging behaviors around social distancing, group play, the sharing of equipment and, indeed over the last three weeks, your recreation and park department has designed, produced and distributed nearly 1,000 signs to offer people safe guidance on how to use these spaces which remain open. i do want to note that the availability of parks teachers and certain spaces in our parks continues to evolve with public health guidance. parks are no doubt playing an incredibly important role in this health order as i think you noted, president buell, they are the space not just in san francisco, but regionally, statewide and nationally where people have been exempted from shelter place orders and have been permitted to get outside and connect with nature and get some exercise. indeed, parks -- urban parks may never have been more important than they are now. there is -- there are ongoing conversations with public health officials, about future health orders and we'll keep the commission updated as the guidance we receive changes. i do want to remind everybody, again, that while parks are playing an important role, we play a supporting role. this is a health pandemic and we follow our guidance and take our leadership from public -- from our mayor and from our public health experts. and in this response, we are one city and there is one city response and we have guidance from our public health experts and elected leadership and we will do what is asked of us, whatever is asked of us. to that end, i want to highlight one thing that was asked about very early on, which was to create an emergency child care program for families of health care workers and disaster service workers and other first responders. this program has been quite valuable in the city's ability to continue to deliver health care services. as you know, our schools are closed throughout the end of the year and child care has truly become an issue for many frontline and first responders and we're very pleased to be offering this service. in partnership with the department of children, youth and family, the office of early childhood education, the department of public health, the department of human resources and the department of emergency management, the city's emergency child program is now in its fifth week. the office of early care and education is focused on our 2 to 5 population, which requires slightly more different licensing requirements. but at over 28 facilities around the city, your recreation and park department and its staff essentially on over a weekend converted our recreation centers into emergency child care operations. we are also partnering with a number of c.d.o.s who are also providing emergency child care for the k-8 population. classs will not resume for the remainder of the school year, the program will continue to operate until june and we ensure that many of our facilities can now support distance learning initiatives and i really want to thank christine naff not just for making sure that this first virtual meeting was successful, but for working with her team, our team and the city's department of technology to ensure that we can accommodate distance learning at many of our facilities. we're working very closely with the partners that i mentioned, we're receiving feedback from the department of public health and all private hospitals and, to be clear, our spaces are open for any health care worker, public or private, in the city of san francisco and any and all activated disaster service workers. and first responders. at the request of certain hospitals and our department of public health, we have early child care facilities opening as early as 6:00 a.m. and closing as late as 7:30 p.m. to accommodate a variety of different 12-hour hospital shifts. we are receiving really good feedback from participants in the program. we have approximately -- we're averaging approximately 200 enrollees in our k-8 program each week. we had another -- approximately 100 to 150 enrollees in the c.d.o. program and nearly 200 enrollees in the early care program. parents did respond to a recent survey that we distributed in our own facilities and they were very positive, offer aed very positive readings about that, facility cleanliness, activities, safety and meals with our organized and distributed through our [inaudible] families. nearly 93% of our respondents gave the program a favorable grade. i wanted to share one comment, one parent said, quote, this has been a life-saver for me. my work has been all-consuming with covid-19 and this has allowed me to serve my unit and my patients with peace of mind. the program has actually received attention across the country because of the boldness of our city's actions, which you alluded to and because the school district shut down quite, quite early. we were the first major city to operate emergency child care operation and now several cities have followed and have looked to our program as a model in their own coronavirus response. now health care workers and first responders have bourn the brunt of the fight so far. our employees across the board, including our custodians, our guardians and laborers and structural maintenance staff, of course our recreation staff to whom i just referred and our administrative staff and domestic operation center have all stepped up to help and support our communities in this time of need. really the key to the child care program success has been the amazing staff. it has been incredible and i need to take a moment to say without our custodial staff, the rest of this all shuts down. if we don't have custodians coming to work each day, and coming to often difficult environments to keep our facilities clean and safe, to keep our restaurants open, i'm not sure we would be operating a park system today. so, they really desefrk our gratitude and a thanks. our park rangers have done a remarkable job, not just working to keep our parks safe, but they have also been involve in the education and outreach about safety of our parks, encouraging people to follow the guidance of our public health officials. they've often had to engage our -- and work with our in-house population to ensure that they are safe and following public health guidance and that the spaces around them are safe. and they've had to ensure that our infrastructure, which includes our land and our buildings r safe and protected. as you know that many of our buildings, some of which are in remote locations, are now empty. in short, and our gardeners have been out there and structural maintenance staff have been out there, in short this is a moment when our city and people around the country are truly understanding that parks are essential services and our workers are indeed essential. and you should be so proud of our staff and their response to this. our attendance has been extraordinary, commissioners. and i'm really so very proud of our department. in addition to just providing continuity of operation, we've had heavy equipment truck drivers delivering masks to all city agencies and driving in r.v. vehicles used for shelter. our property management staff has been working at the emergency operations center to make spaces available for food distribution points, for shelter, if needed. we've had our communications staff involved in the city's joint information center efforts. we have staff helping to stand up in emergency volunteer operations. in total, more than 450 of our employees have been activated as disaster service workers in the last month. it has been a great effort and i'm proud to work alongside these men and women each and every day with a proper six feet of distancing, of course. one of the interesting activities i've been involved in, i participate in two weekly calls with fellow park professionals. the first call happens on fridays and it has been hosted by the national recreation of park associations and i am essentially on a panel with the directors of parks from new york city, miami, denver, seattle, chicago, los angeles, portland and, over time, many, many, many other park directors from across the country are participating and we share best practices, we share implementation questions. we forecast, you know, what might be happening two to three weeks to come and it has been a really valuable experience, not just in getting a better appreciation for what's happening in cities across the country, but, you know, we've also been able to proudly share our own best practices. once a week, i participate in a call with our regional park directors from marines, san mateo, santa clara, alameda, oakland and our public health officers from those jurisdictions and there's been a really wonderful effort that i'm very grateful for, a partnership between our public health officers and our parks directors as we discuss how to keep parks open and activated in which our public health officers have really understood the essential nature and the essential physical and a mental importance -- or importance to our physical and mental well-being of keeping spaces open and we have made -- tried to make suggestions regarding existing and future health orders and we are continuing to discuss these issues at a regional level and offer input and guidance. of course, we've also had to deal with some disappointments. this was supposed to be the meeting when we were celebrating the amazing event we had planned for april 4 in honor of golden gate park's 150th birthday. it certainly wasn't the big berth day bash we hoped and planned for. but we're doing our best to celebrate the 150th anniversary online, at home and, of course, in our hearts. the celebration which will continue throughout the year and will remain virtual as long as we need to, includes online concerts, podcasts, photo albums and virtual tours and the ability of the public to share their own personal stories and memories and special moments in golden gate park. mayor breed recently called to congratulate and thank us for providing a welcomed distraction to the public during these uncertain times. she visited the current website so i really want to thank the commission for its support of this important milestone and, again, acknowledge our staff's incredible contribution in preparation for the park's birthday, for the months of planning, beautification, fundraising and communication that preceded it. you know, everyone's dedication, determination and nimbleness in the face of adversity are a test tom the strength of our team and collective success. if you haven't done so already, both for the commission and members of public, i encourage all of you to visit goldengatepark150.com and enjoy a look back at the last 150 years in golden gate park and look forward to the next 150 and the website, i promise, has surprises each and every week. speaking of surprises, golden gate park has recently doubled in size with the addition of five young female bison introduced to the herd as part of the golden gate park celebration. the 1-year-old animals arrived from a northern california ranch where they were born in march and after spending 30 days in their own quarantine separated from the main bison herd that allowed them time to acclimate, they entered the main paddock on monday. these are the first new bison added to the paddock in eight years and brings the total number of bison in the paddock to 10 females. the bison were purchased through a generous gift through the san francisco -- to the san francisco zoological society by senator dianne feinstein and her husband dick blum. the bison herd is cared for by staff at the san francisco zoo while the recreation and parks department gardeners maintain the enclosure and one of the bison which is taged with number 160 is actually named sesqui, in honor of golden gate park's sesquicentennial. it has been a remarkable time, commissioners, and i wish everyone well and there is a lot more to come. we've got some tough -- we're going to have a couple of tough budgets to navigate and a variety of other challenges. but i remain really inspired by our team, inspired by san franciscans doing a really wonderful job complying with the public health department's social distancing guidelines. and it is really important to note the essential role that parks are playing in this pandemic. and that concludes the general manager's report. >> thank you. >> thank you. we're now in public comment. please dial 1 and then 0 to be added to the queue to speak. you will have two minutes to comment. operator: you have four questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, my name is helen hickman. i live here in the richmond district and i quickly wanted to thank recs and park for all this amazing work and all the online things for the celebration and just wanted to give a thumbs. up. thank you. as a resident of the richmond district. >> thank you. operator: you have nine questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, this is matthew blaine is s.f. urban riders and i wanded to thank the park and commission and city staff for keeping the parks open for these times. it's so important for everyone, despite the restrictions. i want to mention that i appreciate bill being on the regional and national conversations because i really praoernlt that our bay area and san francisco leadership [inaudible] being more reactive to their approaches for this when it's so important for people to get outside. thank you for all of it. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. operator: you have eight questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, my name is elizabeth and i also want to thank you for keeping the parks open. they have been a real lifeline through this time. i would also urge you to prioritize car-free spaces, putting people first. especially after the shelter in order place is lifted. you know, i live in a tiny studio and going to the park is really the only chance i get to go outside. but unfortunately, with all the parking and the -- i understand the joggers are trying to also maintain six feet of distance. but when joggers are in the bike lane, i need to veer out into the car lane and, you know, this is the last time i would want to be going to the emergency room. i'd really like to urge you to prioritize car-free spaces in the park. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you. operator: you have nine questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first and, as a reminder, if there is any comment on an item that is not on the agenda currently, you will have item four to make those comments. so if you want to wait until item four, you can dial 1-0 now and then placed back on hold and then can be joined to the queue later. right now we are taking public comments on the general manager's report. hello, caller. please state your name. >> caller: hello. this is nathan getner. my wife and i are raising a 7-year-old and 5-year-old in the city. we live on visidero near the panhandle and i'm expressing my desire for everyone to close off golden gate park to car traffic at all times. i commute with my kids to school in the morning via bike and we just hit 5,000 miles on my bike odometer, biking with the kids. and we absolutely love golden gate park. thae ear at the age now where they're learning to ride their own bikes and golden gate park is the one potential place in the city where they can ride bikes safely. but tragically it is not safe for families. on a weekly basis, my kids and i have a danger encounter with a driver in golden gate park. to choose one example, last week a woman drove her car -- >> sir? if i can, i'm just -- i'm going to interrupt you really quickly. what i yield you to do is dial 1-0 to be put back in the queue. all of these comments -- and i know we're going to have a lot of comments about car-free golden gate park -- those need to be made under either item 4 or item 8. right now we're only taking comments on the general manager's report. so i'm going to ask you again to dial 1 and then 0. when we get to item 4 or item 8, whichever we can get through first, we'll take your call then and take your comments for that particular issue. ok? >> caller: ok. thank you. operator: you have eight questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi. this is biron holly. i'm going to wait and dial 1-0 for 4. >> ok. thank you very much. thank you. operator: you have seven questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, i'm sorry. i'll also going to wait until line 4. >> thank you. operator: you have nine question remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, i'm also waiting for item 4. >> just dial 1 and then 0. operator: you have seven questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. operator: you have eight questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. operator: you have seven questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. operator: you have seven questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. [laughter] >> caller: hello. mario. commissioners, thank you for everything that you eve done to the park all throughout the years and i grew up in san francisco and lived in the richmond and i was raised in golden gate park. thank you for continuing to keep the park accessible to all people and, yes, i'll be back in line for number 4 as well. thank you very much. and keep up the great work. i know it's not easy. but everyone making demands and requests that sometimes can be difficult in these times. thank you again. keep up the good work and keep that park green. >> thank you. have. operator: you have five questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: [inaudible]. >> hello? >> caller: hello. my name is fennel. i will wait for item number 4. again, wanting golden gate park that is free of traffic violence immediately. >> ok. dial 1 and then 0 and you will be put back in the queue. operator: you have four questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: that is nathan. i think we've gone full cycle and i'm waiting for item number 4. >> ok. thank you very much. operator: you have four questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: i'm waiting for item 4. >> ok. thank you very much. so hearing no further callers, public comment is now closed. commissioners, do you have any comments or questions on this item? >> stacey, i think you need to just be clear at the conclusion when you ask for public comment on an item that you make sure that you tell them it is the item that was just heard, not general public comment so they know where to stay in the queue. >> yeah. i had to do it in the middle of that, though. thankfully most of them listened. i'm going to make sure i reiterate it at the beginning of each item until we get to item 4 and then to item 8. so, commissioners, are there any comments or questions? please be sure to state your name first. hearing none, that item is closed. we're now on item 4. general public comment. at this time, members of the public may address the commission on items of interest to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction to the commission that do not appear on the agenda. with respect to agenda items, you'll have opportunity to address the commission when the item is reached in the meeting. the public will have 15 minutes for item four. the mrubl then have the opportunity to continue public comment on item 8. is there anyone in the queue? operator: you have 17 questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: fennel. >> go on ahead. >> caller: yeah. i am a mother who lives near golden gate park of a child who is out of school as a first grader and we use the park eke tensively. right now we're struggling with tremendous tremendous traffic violence from people who are in cars. it's absolutely outrageous. it needs to be fixed immediately. the children need a safe place and i want you to honor the outdoor bill of rights that was set forth by the park alliance, that's also in accordance with the california children outdoor bill of rightsful please comment on how you're honoring the children who live near the park who do not drive cars, but have to face their grill every day. >> thank you. operator: you have 20 questions remaining. >> caller: hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, this is nay than again. just to quickly summarize. my wife and i are raising a 7-year-old and 5-year-old in the city. we bike our kids to school every day and just hit 5,000 miles of biking with the kids over the last three years. our kids are now learning how to ride their own bikes and i take them to golden gate park and it is a completely unsafe environment for kids to ride bikes or frankly anyone to ride bikes due to car traffic. on a weekly basis, we have some type of dangerous encounter with a driver. to choose one example, last week a woman drove her car up behind my kids and i as we were riding by the bison paddock and laid on her horn and yelled at us to get out of the way. these type of encounters are 100% unacceptable. even when drivers are being well-intentioned, cars are very dangerous in the park. there's a lot of traffic. there's delivery trucks commuting through. the app directs people across the park to get through town. when you compare this to sunday when j.f.k. is closed to car, it is a wonderful place for kids to play. i ask you what is a more appropriate use of our treasure that is golden gate park for families and other individuals to play safely, learn how to ride bikes and scooters and so on, or as a road for vehicles to zoom across town. i feel there is no reason for cars to be in golden gate park. they can take lincoln or fulton or 19, which are all full lane roads with lights to get across town. i implore you to permanently close golden gate park to traffic at all times. i'm personally willing to devote an unlimited amount of my time to national -- to make this plan a reality. >> thank you. operator: you have 21 questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hello. my name is dan landy and i would like to echo the comments of the previous caller. so i can keep my comments short. basically i'm in favor of car-free space more of the time, as much as possible in golden gate park. new york city recently closed off central park to cars and i think we should follow their example. the mayor there said this park was not built for automobiles. i was built for people. and i think the same should be true of golden gate park and when you're there on a sunday, it's really beautiful to see a lot of people out there, families, small children, etc. and that's what a park should look like and awould like to see golden gate park looking like that all of the time. thank you. >> thank you. operator: you have 21 questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, this is mario again. as i said earlier, i grew up in the golden gate park and i grew up there on my bicycle. however, as i got older, i have a harder time riding a bicycle. and i need my car. and i love my park. unfortunately, people want to shut me out of the park that i grew up in. when you guys talk about a car-free park, don't think of it for yourselves, think of it for the city. be good stewards of the city and remember that you are going to get old and you are not going to be able to ride your bike anymore, just like me. and what are you going to do when someone says you can't come here anymore because you're old, you're not healthy, you're not white anglo, you're not whatever it is. the demographic of the people who want to shut down the park represent the few thousand people. their ideology and their requests will lock out tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people. i'm just trying to say i'm not anti-bike, i'm an avid cyclist or was. but you really need to keep the park accessible to everyone. this is an inclusive city. this is a tolerant city. i don't understand what it is you have about locking people out. thank you. >> thank you. operator: you have 22 questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: my name is julia. i'd like to speak also in support of car-free space in golden gate park and other parks. i live in the outer park side and formerly in outer richmond and in golden gate park specifically, i'd like to see car-free j.f.k. all the time all the way to the west including to the beach. i'd like improved infrastructure for bikes going eastbound from j.f.k. to the panhandle and both directions on chain of lakes drive so it is easier to share that road with car traffic. i'd like improved access for car-free -- to this car-free space from both the richmond and sun set sides, particularly west of 19th avenue. it can be difficult to get into the park safely. and lastly, i'd like improved infrastructure the entire length of martin luther king drive with special attention to the intersection at middle drive west, the intersection of the bike path leading to 34th avenue exit on the sunset side and in the area from 25th avenue to crossover drive, which is often filled with auto traffic from people trying to get to the sunset and to the richmond. so particularly on the south side of our park, i feel like it is important that we just make that space be a better shared use space. really as people have mentioned before, you have these traffic apps that have increased the use of golden gate park to be a series of stoplight-free parkways for automobile traffic and none of us want that. right? what we want is a green space for everyone and we should continue to protect it as a park. thank you for your time. operator: you have 22 questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. operator: you have 21 questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, my name is leonard. i first of all wanted to thank rec and park for maintaining open parks at this time when we all need the safe space to exercise and decompress. i'm also calling to ask for car-free space in golden gate park as soon as the shelter in place order is lifted. i'm a cyclist and a walker in the city. i'm already well aware of how much public space is dedicated to cars and the pan democratic that we're in is shining a spotlight on the way that cars are creating a danger and degrading city life and making it impossible in some cases to follow social distancing guidelines. golden gate park on sundays is a respite from all of this. it's a place we can get outside safely and destress. saturdays and all week, car parking and thru traffic are creating dangerous conditions. put people first and create car-free space in golden gate. >> thank you. operator: you have 21 questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: my name is charlie doris. i'm a member of the access advisors of the fine arts museum of san francisco. we opposed closing j.f.k. drive year round on saturdays because it will hurt the access of disabled people to the deyoung t academy and that part of golden gate park. this is a really important issue. it deserves the attention and the focus of the city and all the stakeholders and right now we're all focused on covid-19. and that focus is not going to go away when the shelter in place is lifted. we'll be dealing with the economic and health issues for some period of time. for example, first responders who use golden gate park will still be dealing with this virus after the elt shhher in place has been lifted. and then the city and stakeholders can sit down in a collaborative way and come up with a long-term access plan that meets everyone's needs. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. operator: you have 20 questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, my name is margaret bonner. i live near the panhandle in district 5. first off, i wanted to thank you for doing this meeting over the phone. usually i have to be at work during public comment and now i can just dial in between meetings so i get excited. and i also wanted to advocate for a car-free golden gate park. golden gate park, i'm in there almost every day and it would just be great to have a spaces that prioritizes people over cars. thank you so much for all the work you do. >> thank you. operator: you have 19 questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi. my name is katie burns and i also want to start off by thanking you for your work during this difficult time. i hope you and your teams are staying safe during these unprecedented challenges. i'm echoing what some of my peers [inaudible] as a park lover and avid runner, i am joining the ask for the recreation and parks department to implement more car-free spaces in golden gate park. as a response to the shelter in place order. i live in district 5 so not directly add jay -- adjacent to the park but close it tos and use the park as my yard and outdoor space and it has been a respite and really echoing what was said earlier as parks do serve as an essential service during this time. one point i do want to note that hasn't been stated is the past week the city of oakland has closed many of their streets to allow for greater social distancing. and i think this is a great opportunity for the city of san francisco to do the same. the cars in the north part of the city that are part of the national park system have already closed their parking lots, including marina green and fort mason and you can see night and day the effects that that may have made and i would like the see the city-run parks follow similar and someone else mentioned that new york city has closed parks to cars and prioritizing people in the parks. i appreciate that supervisor mar has already requested that we keep the upper great highways from lincoln to [inaudible] closed and temporarily closed due to the [inaudible] and that has sheen a great effect. articles were published in the atlantic and "new york times" that really highlight a large number of reasons, including mental health and also really points around wealth class and disparity which i appreciated. somebody else had also spoke on. i understand that not everybody is able to access the park. not everyone lives in walking or biking distance and also it really is [inaudible] -- operator: you have 19 questions remaining. you have 18 questions remaining. >> hello, call kerr. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, my name is jared luxembourg. >> wait. there's two callers. >> caller: hello? can i get that one more time? >> caller: hi, my name is -- >> sorry. >> we have two people on the line. let's see if we can correct that. i can only have one of you speak at a time. please state your name first. >> caller: i can go first. my name is jared and i live in district 5 near alma square park. i'm a cyclist and member of the san francisco bicycle coalition. and i would like to echo the comments of others calling in to support car-free spaces in our parks. i don't have too much to add to that, but i would like to say that great highway south of lincoln, i think, has been closed to traffic for over a week. i think it has been closed for maybe even a few weeks. it has been amazing to see how skate borders and cyclists, people walking dogs, people with their families have taken back this massive four-lane highway. and it is amazing to see the people using that space, especially in this time when -- in order to use outdoor spaces, we need to stay far apart. it is really important to have more space for people and not for cars. thank you again for running the parks and thank you for taking comments as well. >> thank you. operator: you have 17 questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, my name is mike. i live in the inner richmond. thank you for all the work they do on maintaining all of our parks over the years and of course thanks for managing through these difficult times. i understand there can be a strain on the budget, having been a former finance manager. [garbling] as a former roller skieer, i'm asking rec and parks to implement car-free space in the parks. cars are first all across our city. let's put people first in the park. let's stop prioritizing parking and speeding commuters when they could be out on lincoln and fulton. for example, i go to the park super early in the morning and sometimes cars drive even faster. often it's hard to see around parked cars. let's try to keep those people from circumventing traffic. thank you so much for taking comments. appreciate it. >> thank you very much, sir. general comment item number 4 is still closed. for anyone still on the line -- operator: your conference is now in question and answer mode. to summon each question, press 1 and then 0. >> hello again. for anyone on the line, general public comment and item number 4 is now closed. we know that we have a lot of callers that want to comment about car-free golden gate park. you will have an opportunity, again, to comment on item 8. we are now on item 5, the consent calendar. commissioners? >> do you want to get public comment on the consent calendar before we pass a motion? >> do we have anyone in the queue? >> [inaudible]. >> ok. we're on general public comment. please dial 1 and then 0 to be added to the queue to speak. you will have two minutes to comment. and, again, this is item 5, the consent calendar. so, all comments should be geared toward item number 5 on the agenda. thank you. operator: you have seven questions remaining. >> i doubt that's true. i think people just have to be reminded. >> hello? >> caller: hello? >> can you -- >> caller: for 8. >> caller: ok. dial 1-0 and you will be put back in the queue. thank you. operator: you have seven questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: i'm sorry. still waiting for item 8. >> dial 1 and then 0 and you will be put back into the queue. operator: you have six questions remaining. >> hello, call kerr. please state your name. >> caller: i'll wait until item 8. >> thank you. operator: you have questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: my name is fabricio and i don't want cars in the golden gate park. >> thank you. operator: you have six questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hello. my name is richmond and i'm calling about the zoological report. i think they should give a fuller report since there's no joint zoo committee on what's a -- the status of the animal as since the city owns the animals and what is the financial status of the zoological society. and i think they should -- if they're not going to have joint zoo committee meetings, then they should come to the full board and give a report about what's going on at the zoo. thank you. >> thank you. >> caller: you have three questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: [inaudible] i'd just like to say that i live in the sunset district. yesterday i was driving down fulton and grant highway -- >> i'm sorry, sir. i'm going to stop you right there. are you commenting on item 5 on the agenda? >> caller: no. >> ok. so i need you to -- i need you to dial 1 and then 0 and when we get to item 8 -- operator: you have two questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, my name is steve. i'm calling for item 8. >> dial 1 and then 0. and we'll put you back in the queue. operator: you have five questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: i'm still waiting for item 8. i think we've come full circle. >> hold on for just a moment. dial 1 and then 0. operator: your conference is now in question and answer mode. to summon each question, press 1 and then 0. >> are there any other callers in the queue? >> the chair will now entertain motions for approval of the consent calendar. >> this is commissioner lowe. i move to approve. >> this is commissioner harrison. i move to second. >> thank you very much. it's been moved and seconded. all those in favor? [roll call] the ayes have it. thank you very much. >> thank you very much, commissioners. we're now on the general calendar. item 6, mclaren park,-mansell tai chi court. >> hi. can you all hear me? >> hi, alex. >> good morning, commissioners, general managers and staff and everyone else on the line. thank you so much. thank you, thank you for your energy and leadership and your service during tough times. [inaudible] document for this project titled item 6, mclaren park attachment and tai chi court at mansell. you'll notice if your staff report that the engineer's estimate for this project doesn't pass the threshold for formal award but we're bringing to you because it's a proposed land use change and also it's an exciting new project that we believe you will be interested to hear about. [inaudible] to get into the document? i take that as a no. please go to page two. this outlines how the spronl very much in line with the park's strategic plan and it promotes historic and cultural use of our parks and inspires active use of our parks far wide range of age groups and it is simply an inspiring project for our team because it represents an inknow evade t*ef -- innovative system in our parks. it will be the northeast corner of mclaren park. in addition to this wark, the same bucket of fund willing go to improvements at the opposite end of the park at crocker, which i'll speak about later. page four, please. the this spronl -- this project is a tier one project of the mclaren park plan, which through community process identified as a suite of projects identified as mclaren courts. the first objective was to provide a dedicated space for tai' chi. and also included is the goal to improve access and amenities at some of our existing courts, which are already being used for activities like tai' chi. page five. this image shows how tai' chi is typically practiced at the mansell courts. this is just south of project site. so clearly no great crime has been committed here. there is nothing wrong with this picture and this is a very typical scene in our park system. however, with the growing popularity of both sports, both tennis and tie chi, one can imagine the conflicts that will eventually occur and a by providing a space of their own, we're addressing a long-term need with innovative new type of amenity that can provide a precedent for future park sites. tai' chi has been performed in our parks for half a century. page six shows an aerial zoomed in on the mansell area. page seven shows the project outlined in blue just north and downhill of the tennis courts. you'll notice that the project area is essentially replacing an existing paved area, which currently is a demissioned parking lot. the primary access point for the new court will be from the west at john s. shellee drive. page eight, please. page eight includes site images. so, starring at the bottom right actually is that primary access point i just mentioned where we'll be providing an accessible parking space. and then from the upper left, as you come in from the west, from that entry, you'll come across the [inaudible] parking lot which will essentially be replacing and then if you were to turn left in the middle of the project site, that upper middle image, so it shows a great view of downtown and the city. and then on the upper right, if you were to continue on through the project site and turn around and look back, this is what you'd see from the east. page nine. page nine is an overview of the outreach process for this project, in particular, showing how the design evolve from one consolidated space which makes it more usable for groups and how we arrived at an option that avoided paving over an existing lawn area -- [coughing] for what is already there and which is an answer to the needs of neighbors and community. page 10. and here we are at the final concept design. as you can see, the pass has been realigned to the back of the plaza in order to provide uninterrupted views and the space has been surrounded by berms and planting. you'll see under the trees there, under the canopy benches lining the back of the plaza looking north, which make this is a usable space for groups like tai' chi -- [sneezing] food camps and also more practices, so like folks going for walks and stopping to enjoy the view. page 11, please. this is a look at how the plan relates to existing conditions. so you can see the existing paved area there and the dash line and the plaza will essentially replace that. the plaza, again, shown in gray. and then sections to the right that show how berms and planting will reduce the effects of winds for users and provide a really nice nice of enclosure in the space. page 12, this page shows another project that will be built using the same source of funding. images at the top show these bright newly surfaced courts that are well-used for a variety of things including tai' chi currently. and yet they don't have any accessible paths to them from moscow street. so, this project provides accessible paved paths from the street as well as some seating along the perimeter and trees to provide some shelter at the corners of the courts to really make them even more yaoublz than they are today. page 13, it's just to say thank you again and that concludes our presentation and i'll be happy to answer any questions that you have on the project. >> thank you, alex. we are now in public comment for item 6, mclaren park. if you are commenting on item 6, please dial 1 and then 0 to be added to the queue to speak. you will have two minutes to comment. >> wait 10 seconds. operator: you have one question remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: my name is catherine. can you hear me? >> yes. >> caller: ok. i want to speak on behalf of the tai' chi group that has been practicing tai' chi in mclaren park for over 15 years. i myself have been practicing in the park over 10 years so we see a lot of changes and the -- for the past 15 year, we've been using the abandoned tennis court to practice tai' chi, which was an unsafe facility for us. and our group was ranging from, you know, 30 to 50 people in different times. so, we are very excited that the park is going to have a new facility for us. i once, you know, tai' chi has become very popular in the city. it's not only people practicing in mclaren park, but golden gate park and also in chinatown. so, really excited. thank you, everybody, you know, for their hard work and we really look forward to the court in order to practice. one thing i do like to mention, you know, the court is fantastic. but we were worried about weather because right now we can only do it when the weather is nice, not rainy or windy as we know that part of the city is always windy. so unfortunately, you know, during the design phase, you know, we raised our concern. but didn't get any actions on that. but all in all, we're welcomed and can't wait for the facility to be opened to us. thank you so much. >> thank you. operator: you have one question remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, this is kelly torres. i'm a resident in the neighborhood and i just wanded to thank san francisco rec and park for coming out and listening to the residents that frequent that section of the park as well as the whole park and the park visitors in making changes to this vision. it is a really great plan. we are looking forward to having that section of upper mclaren park a little bit more manicured and, yes, you know, this is the portala. it is windy and we get the nice, heavy drizzly fog and that is just the nature of this neighborhood as well as other parts of san francisco. it's what makes san francisco fantastic. and all of us who go out to the park and stand in the fog and the wind, we are really excited to see this new plan take place. so that we can all do our tai' chi out at the top of the hill and overlooking the city. thank you very much. it's just a thank you comment to everyone involved. it is going to be terrific. it's going to be lovely. >> thank you. >> thank you. operator: you have one question remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: nancy buffham. thank you very much for all your work. i look forward to a continuing, healthier outdoor environment for san francisco when our shelter in place restrictions are lifted. i would like to reinforce the request of other speakers to end commuter traffic -- >> hello? i'm going to -- ma'am, i'm going to ask you to call back for item 8. this is public comment for -- >> caller: i'm sorry. >> no. it's ok. you can call back and we will definitely take your call. ok? operator: you have zero questions remaining. >> seeing no further callers, public comment is now closed. commissioners, do you have any comments or questions? >> hearing none. >> general manager, do you have any comments or questions? >> caller: no, other than to thank alex and my staff for really listening to the community and for what is a great design. >> thank you very much. seeing no further questions, the chair would entertain a motion and would the motioners please state their name and the seconder as well. >> this is commissioner allan lowe. i move to approve. we all need to take a deep breath and approve this project. [laughter] >> this is commissioner tom harrison and i second that. >> moved by commission kerr lowe, seconded by commissioner harrison. all those in favor -- >> aye. >>en and all those opposed? hearing none, it is unanimous. thank you very much. >> thank you, commissioners. we're on item 7, golden gate tennis center, renovation project contract increase. >> good morning, commissioners. i'm kelli ruddnick, project manager with the capital anden mraiing division. can you hear me? >> yes. >> great. >> thank you, kelli. >> thanks. please refer to the staff report for golden gate tennis center renovation project contract increase. today i'm requesting your approval to amend the construction contract for the golden gate park tennis center renovation project to increase the contract amount by up to $500,000, bringing the total to $2,057,500, which is greater than 10% over the approved contract amount of $2,075, 500. i was approved last year at the september 4, 2019 commission meeting. construction on the tennis center started last fall and is currently under way. the city administrator has deemed this project essential construction and, as of now, the project has not experienced delay. construction is estimated to be complete this year. this portion of the work is for the pg&e upgrades necessary to the site. pg&e did not release their contract to us until after the bids came in. once we understand the skoem of work, we realized in order to maintain the schedule and control costs, it would be better for the tennis center contractor to perform this work. when we received the cost proposal from the contractor, we believed issuing a change order for this work to the tennis center contractor would give us more control over the schedule and be more cost effective. note that this is not a request for additional funding. to recap, today i'm requesting your approval to amend the construction contract for the azul works to increase the contract amount by up to $500,000 bringing the total to $2,057,500 over the original amount. we are excited to move forward with this project. let me know if there are any questions. >> hearing none, let's go to public comment on this item. >> hello, we're now in public comment. please dial 1 and then 0 to be added to the queue to speak. you will have two minutes. and just as a reminder, the comment right now we are looking for is on item 7, golden gate tennis center. >> thank you, stacey. >> hear nothing further callers, public comment is now closed. commissioners, do you have any concerns or questions? hearing none, general manager, do you have any comments or questions? >> no. my thanks to kelli and team for managing this super exciting and important project. >> thank you very much. the chair will now entertain a motion and a second. >> i would like to move approval through this. this is commissioner anderson. >> thank you. >> this is commissioner bonilla motioned and will second that motion. >> and moved and seconded. all those in favor -- >> aye. >> all those opposed? hearing none, it's unanimous. thank you very much. >> thank you, commissioners. we're now on item 8, general public comment. at this time, members of public who were not able to address the commission on item 4 may address the commission on items that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the recreation and park commission and do not appear on the agenda. operator: you have nine questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: this is kristen lucky. >> ok. go on ahead. >> caller: perfect. good morning, president buell and commissioners. my name is kristen and i'm a community organizer on staff at the san francisco bicycle coalition. i'm calling in today on behalf of our 10,000-plus members to ask you to prioritize the expansion of car-free space in golden gate park immediately after the shelter in place order is lifted. this has been in the works for years. we've collected data time and time again to prove the case for car-free spaces in the park. including working with over 30 volunteers from the bike coalition and rec and park to collect parking council. in 2018, i personally hosted a site visit with the mayor's office on disabilities, rec and park and the disability council members and accessibility coordinators at both institutions to decide on a list of accessibility improvements that could be implemented in the park during closures. now it's up to rec and park to get these in place. we don't need another traffic study to tell us what we already know. there are too many cars speeding in the park and there is more than enough parking spots for those who need parking outside of j.f.k. drive. it's not just a small subset of cyclists asking for this space. the 350 letters that you received over the last two weeks are from neighbors, all ages and abilitis that bike, walk, drive through the park, business owners and families. i hope you really listen to those stories being shared today. i'm looking to you, our leaders, for park spaces in san francisco to be vocal, step up and create bold solutions. the parks commission is a vital piece of the puzzle. you must be responsive to people who have been speaking up and a engaging. we've seen folks like chronicle rider heather wright and supervisor matt haney and countless others asking the city to do more but it has been silent. you have the power to make the right decisions. you have the knowledge and background they need -- >> thank you. >> thank you. operator: you have 11 questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> hi, my name is olivia. i first just thank you very much for keeping the parks open. it's been wonderful during this stressful time. i am a medical doctor a mother of two small children and richmond resident and as a physician i've been working through this crisis. i commute to work through golden gate park. and i think it is pretty ironic that the most dangerous part of my day is commuting to work. rather than covid-19. my physician -- my husband is also a physician and emergency room doctor. he also commutes to work through the park. and, again, we're asking for a safe park and car-free space so that people can get to and from work. people can enjoy recreation opportunities and we don't have to worry about traffic violence. we have seen many people in our medical careers who have been hit by cars on j.f.k. drive while they are walking and biking. i don't know if people appreciate the human toll, but people are getting hurt badly in our parks. people who are coming here for recreation and fresh air or to get from a to b are being hurt badly, some even killed. and i think that's a bad look for recs and park to have people being hurt when they're just trying to enjoy the outdoors. so i'm asking you, once sheltser in place is lifted, for more car-free space in golden gate park. thank you. >> thank you. operator: you have 13 questions remaining. >> hello, call kerr. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, my name is jessica jenkins. can you hear me? >> yes. >> caller: ok. thank you. my name is jessica jenkins. i live in the lower haigt. i have a son whose name is otis. he is 5 years old. we don't have a yard and golden gate park has been a lifeline, especially during the shelter in place. thank you very much for keeping it open. we already were going to golden gate park on a weekly basis and now it is closer to a daily basis. he is 5 now and learned to ride his bike in golden gate park when he was 3 on a sunday when the streets were closed to traffic. and then he -- when he started school, he has been riding his bike to school every day. and so we have had some pleasant experiences in golden gate park but i wanted to share a scary incident that happened last week. we were biking from overlook to middle drive and ended up on m.l.k. and we were in -- driving in the middle of the lane as we're legally allowed to and now it is pretty important to take the lane. there are lots of pedestrians walking in the street to avoid other pedestrians on the sidewalk and maintain six-foot distance and as we were biking, a car came up and passed us very close on our right, actually. between us and a pedestrian who's walking in the street. and it was incredibly scary. a very close call. i've had many incidents with being endangered by cars in golden gate park so i'm asking, and as are many others, to please make more car-free spaces and build better bike infrastructures around places like m.l.k. and then also sort of addressing other issues of accessibility. operator: you have 13 questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: yes. my name is zack benson. i've been living in san francisco for over seven years now. and i became a homeowner just one block south of golden gate park. i am very much in support of closing down j.f.k. to car traffic. [inaudible] the sunday closure to saturday, if not even more. and i'm sure you'll hear a lot of reasons why you should do so and i really appreciate you taking the time to listen to them. i do want to take a minute to address some of the concerns that others have expressed on -- from item 4. both from the fine arts commission, which i find to be a little bit troubling that the museums that are in the park do not have any other creative ways of making ways for their museums to be more accessible. the museums are great. i'm a member of both. but, again, the best way to get to those parks not to drive to them through the park. there are already underground parking structure which is would not be closed. there is ways that parking could be increased. and there is buss that go through the park as well. [inaudible] is probably less than 200 yards from street park on fulton avenue. also for those concerned about the accessibility of the park, if cars are not able to drive through, i think the main point is that we're attempting to have cars not drive through. that cars are having to park on the outside and people come into the park. i don't see why that would be different for anyone who has differentty walking. if anything, it would be safer to not be worried about crossing crosswalks where cars would be zipping through and injuring people. so i think it makes the park more accessible. it makes the park -- the museum specifically more beautiful. operator: you have 13 questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi. my name is matt. i'm a father of a 2-year-old, husband of a pregnant wife and, until august, the son of a father who use add wheelchair. and i strongly support more car-free space in golden gate park. like the last caller, there's many ways to address the accessibility of our museums and other spaces in the park. i appreciated that whenever i took my disabled father to the deyoung that we actually got free admission. that was a great service from that museum. the way we access the park was by driving a car into the underground garage off of fulton street. and had very close, accessible access to the museum. i think we can both have car-free space and have access for people like my father. additional outside of golden gate park, i want to suggest to our director ginsberg to work with sfmta to modify things like fulton street where you can store a car for seven days without moving i. why not make this metered parking or four-hour parking? and then additionally, the panhandle path right now is unusable with people walking, running, biking and to be able to maintain social distance. can you please work with director tumlin to create a protected walking, biking running line. and then finally i want to thank you for what's happened at twin peak where is we now have a new park that is not a racetrack for people in their porsches. please never bring cars back to our great mountain park of twin peaks. visit carfreejfk.com. this movement is happening. operator: you have 12 questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi. my name is helen hickman. i use golden gate park nearly every day. and i really like the car-free subjects. -- sundays. by agree with those who started golden gate park that this park should be for all people. i have a disabled neighbor that i take there and feel that this is the only way that she can get there. and there are other accessible ways i am hearing of now. i'm calling actually from a resident that, as a richmond resident, where parking on sundays is nearly impossible in my neighborhood when you do not have a parking spot and i need to use my vehicle. it takes at least 30 minutes or more to find a spot. we have parking meters that will ticket us if we park in driveways and we're not permitted. fi question is for those who will be coming to the park, if it is car-free, where will they be parking and how will their neighbors of the richmond district not be impacted by the extra use of cars coming into our neighborhood looking for parking and lyft drivers and the such. i also and the president of the san francisco tour guide guild and i'm seeing that we have about 26 million visitors that come to our city a year and we hope that keeps happening after covid-19 resolves itself. and i feel that every one of these visitors should be able to have the opportunity to come, even those that are disabled and be able to tour the city through a bus, through the city. i feel that it would be important before this is done that we have comprehensive studies for all of this, to make sure that the park should be available for all neighbors, bike ♪ ♪-bike-free and for tourism as well. thank you for all your hard work. >> thank you. operator: you have 12 questions remaining. >> caller: i'd like to remind everyone, public comment is two minutes. hello, caller. please state your name. >> caller: hi, my name is marcel moran, a ima san francisco resident and member of the s.f. bike coalition. today i'm joining the growing chorus of voices calling for the opening of j.f.k. drive to uk waters, runners, parents and cyclists. currently it privileges the automobile above all other modes. there are approximately 10 miles of free car parking in the park on top of the 13 surface parking lots. 13. not to mention the underground lots. at the same time, there is not a single mile of fully separated bike lanes class four. the subsidizization of car use works against many of san francisco's goals, including increased transit ridership, vision zero and improving our air quality. it is inconceivable if we were designing j.f.k. drive from scratch, we would end up with the car-centric layout that we have. as san franciscans elsewhere make great progress, it stands out. we're asking you in the midst of a global pandemic to match the ambition in other cities of reclaiming streets for people when the need for such space so high. thank you. >> thank you. operator: you have 11 questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, my name is darby. as a biker and walker who lives in san francisco, i'm asking the recreation and parks department to implement car-free spaces in golden gate park immediately after the elt shhher in place order is lifted. i know that a lot of comments have already been made on this point and the only thing that i wanted to point out is spatially what happens in the park when there are cars. so what happens when there are cars is this space for the pedestrians and the bikers gets limited. and that is especially important in this time of coronavirus because we need to keep socially distancing ourselves after this is lifted and we need more space between the people to be able to do that. so, closing the streets in the middle allows for that space. in between beakers and pedestrians. i think that is especially important after this time because coronavirus is going to continue to be an issue for a while after the shelter place order is lifted. so, yeah. i would like to thank you very much for everything that you are doing. thank you. >> thank you. operator: you have 10 questions remaining. >> caller: hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, good morning. my name is carrie, a ima resident of the richmond district and i'd like to echo the comments of my fellow residents in advocating for a car-free golden gate park. the last caller mentioned something -- the only thing i have in addition to add is to add on to what she commend on, which is even in a time where we're sheltering in place, the use of golden gate park is not safe and it is extremely difficult and a bit impossible to follow a social distancing rule when a lo of the sidewalks in the park don't allow for that. so you have runners moving either into the grass, some of them are moving into the bike lanes and the bikers are moving into the car lane to maintain social distancing and that is where a lot of the problem starts. even though i know that there is a lot of motivation for a golden gate park, it's something for us to really look into today that the way that golden gate park is designed makeses it difficult to do social distancing accurately and correctly and it does create more danger. thanks. >> thank you. operator: you have 10 questions remaining. >> hello, please state your name first. >> caller: hi, i'm kristen potter and i'm a resident of the richmond district. i'm calling because i have two children, ages 3 and 6 and under normal circumstances, we would spend many hours a week at city playgrounds as well as visiting golden gate park and now that the playgrounds are closed we're able to go to the park every day, either running, walking and biking. we are so grateful to the park department for their work and for keeping the parks open. our full enjoyment of the space is hindered by the large amount of dangerous car traffic that goes through the park especially in the outer avenues along j.f.k. drive where cars tend to go really fast and don't -- they are not careful when it comes to looking out for pedestrians and bikers. so i just wanted to echo the other comments that have been made and say that i'm proud of our city's leadership and response to covid-19 and this is another area we can show some more leadership to open up more car-free spaces. we need to have a healthier and happier community and we need to be able to prioritize people over cars in this moment. that's it. thank you. operator: you have nine questions remaining. >> please state your name first. >> caller: operator: you have eight questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, my name is courtney. >> go ahead. >> caller: hi. i'm an s.f. resident and proud member of the s.f. bicycle coalition. i strongly believe we need to expand car-free spaces not just on j.f.k. drive but in golden gate park in general. we should absolutely do that after the shelter in place is lifted but i also think that we should consider doing it now to give more space to folks who need to get outside, either for mental health or get to an essential job in a responsible way. as someone who bikes regularly throughout the park, i've been harassed by drivers asking me to stay in the bike lane, which on most parts of the j.f.k. drive isn't even a bike lane, it is a parking lane and i've been passed by cars spaoing through the park wrecklessly. the difference [inaudible] and we need to open up the park like that every day. i know that there are some concerns about access for folks with disabilities and i absolutely believe that we should and can take appropriate steps to ensure that the park is accessible to folks throughout the city, including those with mobile disabilities. but evidently the way to make that happen and has done incredible work so i'm grateful to them for that and the s.f. bicycle coalition advocating for this for years. i hope that you will support and approve more car-free spaces in golden gate park as soon as reasonably possible. thank you. thank you. >> caller: operator: you have eight questions remaining. >> please state your name first. >> caller: this is dave alexander. >> go on ahead. >> caller: great, thank you. i'm with the richmond family transportation network here in the richmond district. i have two children and no yard. i just want to thank park and rec for their leadership throughout san francisco. you've done such a good job. that is why golden gate park has turned into middle earth because it is so beautiful so thank you. the biggest issue that i'm seeing is due to a transportation management plan for people with disables. we can make this happen. the park can make this happen. also, my kid and families, use the park on a daily basis. we're not just weekenders who use the park. lastly is pollution and violence. do we really want the crown jewel of our park system to be known for pollution? absolutely not. lastly, we want to continue to work with deyoung and the academy around designing the park for all users. >> thank you. operator: you have seven questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: my name is rick girling and a member of the s.f. bike coalition. i live in bernal heights, which is a hill [inaudible] to get to by bicycle and i have two kids and i see the neighbor's kids all around. this is a place where a kid can't learn to ride a bike. we need flat areas with no cars that are protected like golden gate park. i would also like the say that i am old and [inaudible]. she is 83 years old whiz by me. so, these old people who want car-free golden gate park, speaking of tourists, i just [inaudible] travel to places where i can cycle freely. amsterdam, germany, austria, all of these places have places where you can cycle freely and we need to have that here in san francisco. just like they're doing in new york, london and i applaud oakland for opening up their streets. the panhandle is horrible. they need to open up a lane. going through the panhandle is horrendous. there is way too much traffic. lastly, i'd like to say that [inaudible] fantastic so many people will be enjoying it and really should be on a permanent basis. that has been so wonderful. i think we need to turn [inaudible] into a really good thing and learn from it and make these change permanent rather than temporary so people can enjoy the resources we have in san francisco. thank you. >> thank you, sir. operator: you have six questions remaining. >> hello, call kerr. please state your name first. er. please state your name first. >> caller: he low, this is matthew [inaudible] again and i wanted to [inaudible]. i think now that the general public understands the dire situation we're in, i'm hoping that the park department will work with public health and come up with some sort of system to identify places which can be closed to cars where there is overcrowding. this is happening in a number of places in the city. thank you. >> thank you. operator: you have four questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, i'm jodie and i'm the executive director of walk san francisco. i want to thank president buell and the commissioners for this opportunity to speak. walk san francisco asks that you prioritize j.f.k. and golden gate park after the shelter in place is lifted. the data has been collected. we know how many people are accessing the park, who's using the garage, the needs and services for people with disain'tses to access and we know that thousands of people have been asking for and advocating for car-free j.f.k. for more than a decade. we believe this was possible and also essential for our city. j.f.k. has speeding cars and dangerous conditions, community members have lost their lives because of these dangerous drivers. doing what's needed to save lives from interest-driving behavior should be nonnegotiatable. parks should be for people. we need more car-free space for our health, safety and well-being as a society. we have a new era. walking and biking is more essential for our health and well-being more now than ever. and this is an opportunity for the parks commission to be a true leader in granting more car-free space in our city and in golden gate park. thank you. operator: you have four questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, my name is shannon. thank you for taking this call. i just wanted to say i'm a runner, a biker, a dog owner and i live one block from golden gate park and i use the resource there is daily and i'm asking that you do not close it to cars. i live in the richmond and as a small business owner i have to have my car to transport my supplis to my business to keep it in operation. and i cross the park regularly and i unfortunately have to have my car and that is a reality for many of us. if there is true concern for safety, which i believe that there possibly is, please increase police presences to monitor both cars and bikers and pedestrians and to make sure that everyone is following the rules. our small businesses right now are really suffering and we beg you not to make it more difficult for us by eliminating our parking, our customer's parking and blocking access. so, please do not do this without further research on how it is going to impact our businesses. thank you very much. >> thank you. operator: you have four questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi, this is jay bane. i appreciate the last comment from the business owner who's concerned about access to the park for essentially driving through the park. as a thorough fare as well as utilizing the park for parking for customers and the business's customers. i understand that we need to balance the availability of parking throughout the city. to enable commerce, transportation and the use of all the available curb space by as many residence and business as pond. -- as possible. i live in the richmond district and i commute through the park on a bicycle and walk in the park with my family frequently. the thing for me is that when the park is full of cars, it's a dramatically different experience for everyone. i do appreciate that some people have to drive a long way to get to the park or use transit or however they get to the park. i don't think the park is the best place for them to store their cars while thae ear visiting the park. you see hundreds of cars lined up in the middle of what is a beautiful space. you can't really unsee it or which one of these doesn't belong here. so while i do appreciate the logistic side of things and before i lived close to the park, i [inaudible] in the parking lot somewhere. but i would gladly trade off my convenience for an opportunity to make the parks a greater place in the 21st century. i also wanted to mention i'm on the pedestrian safety advisory committee for district 1. and all too frequently, i see cars speeding through j.f.k. drive >> sir, your time is up. >> caller: thank you very much. >> thank you. operator: you have three questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hello, my name is mike and i'm a member of s.f. bike coalition and walk s.f. i'm calling to support closing j.f.k. drive and golden gate park to cars and adding more space that prioritize people, including people walking, people biking and people who use the park for all sorts of things. i really think this would improve safety and actually be a benefit to the park and increase the park's appeal to people. thank you very much. >> thank you. operator: you have three questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> i'm christian and i'm a resident on madison and irving and business owner. i use the park for walking, biking and by car. and i really think we need to come together. it's not just going to be one way, this is how it works. and that is because the park is used for everybody's purposes. everybody that rides a bike probably three quarters still have a car. and they probably use it for a thorough fare or some kind of need. but you have to think about what happens when you do something like that to close it. you have accidents, that are happening on the surrounding streets, you have parking that are heavily affected and you have businesses that are going to be affected including ours which you love and including a proposition. they frequent these businesses. they're going to be affected heavily. they're affected heavily now. and we need to think of it as a whole together to the absolutions that work for everybody. and having one direction, one thing happen, isn't going to work. including the deyoung, academy of sciences and all businesses around the area. that everyone frequents and loves. thank you. operator: you have two questions remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. hello? operator: you have one question remaining. >> hello, caller. please state your name first. >> caller: hi. this is byron holly and i want to say i'ming thatful for golden gate park and the rec and park association. you've done a fantastic job. i think given what other people have already said, i think in other words to accommodate accessible, there needs to be some ability for people to travel into the park. but closing off more space in the park makes a lot of sense. makes a lot of sense, given the fact that it's 150th birthday. i can't think of a better way to celebrate with him, to open it especially during this time for more people. i was just in the park this past weekend. i have been walking to the grocery store and going on bike rides with my kids in the park. and we had an auto driver [inaudible] me and i went out into the car lane, they were far back from us and i had to do that because there was so much -- there were people running in the bike lane and bicyclists coming into the bike lane as well and they yelled at me and my 6 and 8-year-old children, which is not acceptable. to open it up, to be more pedestrian-friendly and allow for social distancing or physical distancing, i think makes a lot of sense. but, yes, we still should be able to accommodate some amount of accessible for people with disabilities. that's it. thank you. >> hearing no further callers, public comment is now closed. commissioners, do you have any concerns or questions? >> no, i think we should move on to the next item. >> great. item 9, commissioner's matters. this item is designed to allow commissioners to raise issues that they believe the commission should address. commissioner? >> this is commissioner mcdonnell. is there a point plan where we'll have a discussion regarding the -- all that we just heard in public comment around parks including j.f.k. >> commissioner, i think we raised this over a period of time. there's been an extense tiff studying of the issue with m.t.a. with the bike coalition among others. once we return to normalcy, we can keep the commission updated on the discussion. >> commissioner mcdonnell, does that answer your question? >> caller: it answers what the process will be. it doesn't, candidly, satisfy my interest in not having a report back on the finalty versus an opportunity for discussion. so i appreciate being updated on process, but i don't want to get an update that says "here's what we decided." >> commissioners, i don't think we're deciding anything. i will remind you that more lengthy and permanent changes that alluded to during public comment are a caoefm of ordinance, not commission resolutions. so, the commission can weigh in or not, based on whether it wants to [inaudible] a particular direction. but the change needs to happen at city hall and so, you know, we've been [inaudible] a portal of information and convening and data gathering in partnership with m.t.a. and other park stakeholders for sure. i don't think i answer aed about process or resolve. we'll try to keep you apprised of the discussion continues. >> seems to meta -- to me that maybe we could get a report on perhaps what the mood of city hall is around this issue if it is going to be initiated there. if city hall is looking to rec and park to initiate something, we ought to have that discussion as well. hearing no further comments, perhaps we should move on on the agenda. >> yes, sir. we are on item 10, new business and agenda setting. >> commissioners? >> mr. president? commissioner harrison here. i don't know if this is under new business, by would like to take point of personal privilege in thanking our i.t. people and specifically stacey white, the general manager's assistant, for the work of getting this meeting together with such great success. and steering this ship through this. [laughter] so i'd like to get that on record. >> i'd consider that a fine idea and i second that 100%. stacey and i had -- >> and i third it. [laughter] >> stacey and -- >> me, too. >> stacey and i met two days ago in phil's very dark office, six feet separated, and it was clear that she and the i.t. staff had done quite a bit of work to gear up for this. so our first time at it was not too bad at all and congratulations. >> caller: not too bad. i want to specifically thank her for the great assistance with our folks downtown because i lost my connection. i -- a pass word was expired so it was getting -- stacey sat there last night, overtime till -- [laughter] and sat through this until, i don't know, whatever time, it was late, and the guy finally got me straightened out so i could have access to my board vantage and i certainly appreciate that. >> great. >> very good. >> excellent effort. >> dully noted. >> we'll give stacey the fourth of july and 30th of november off. [laughter] >> thank you very much. >> it was extraordinary. extraordinary. thank you. >> president buell? this is commissioner bonilla. >> yes? >> yes. i would like to thank you, stacey and our general manager for making this meeting possible. think it was a very timely meeting for us to be able to hear from the public, for them to be able to express their -- what they're feeling at this particular time. and i just want to say that i concur with the general manager's recommendation as regards some of the matters that were brought before us. >> very good. thank you, commissioner. let's -- hearing no more commissioner matters, let's move to new business and agenda setting. >> any items? >> hearing none, do we have any communications? >> this is a bit of an update. there were -- when the agenda were printed there were over 250 e-mails regarding the closure of golden gate park to cars. i believe now we are up. to about 4 -- somewhere between 400 and 500. but those were the only communications. >> stacey, i wonder if it wouldn't be helpful, if it's possible, for you to do or have someone to do to simply sort between those who support closure and those who don't just to give us some idea rather than anticipate that all the commissioners would read all 450 e-mails. >> i will work on that for you. >> thank you. have. >> you're welcome. >> any other communications? >> that's it. >> hearing none -- >> that item is closed can. we're on adjournment. >> we are. the chair would entertain a motion to adjourn this rather historic meeting, and before i entertain a motion, i want to thank all the commissioners forer -- for their patience and diligence and thank the general manager of the staff and stacey and the i. t. people. >> thank you. >> [inaudible]. >> this is commissioner lowe. move to adjourn. >> second. >> second. >> all right. >> seconded. all those in favor? >> aye. >> everybody stay safe. >> everybody stay well. >> stay well, everybody. >> all right. thank you, one and all. >> thank you. >> bye. >> we can sweep by in front of a house in a matter of seconds. the only people who don't like it are the people who get the tickets. >> this is a street sweeping sign. don't let it get you. pay attention. [♪] >> in the morning, when we first go out, we start at six in the morning or seven in the morning. we call that our business run. we sweep all the main arteries of the city. after 8:00, we go into the residential areas and take care of all the other customers. >> the idea with the street sweeping program is to get the leaves and the debris off the ground. >> we -- for not only appearance and cleanliness but safety as well. >> we will get anywhere from 2- 7,000 pounds per truck depending on the season and the route. the street sweeper and the choice of the use right now is an error sweeper. they have a motor in the back and it blows winds down one side and carried by air into the hopper. what will mess this up is new -- large pieces of cardboard or sticks or coat hangers. anything that is more than 12 inches. the tube on the tracks is only 12-inch diameter. >> people asked what they can do to help to keep the city clean. there are people that letter. leaves are one thing. any of the garbage you see is from people being careless. [♪] >> one cars parked in the way, we can't sweep under the congress. to deal with this, we have parking control officers that are provided by m.t.a. and they go in front of our sweepers and pass out citations to people that are parking the wrong way. once the sweepers sweep past in san francisco, you may park behind the street sweeper. we all know parking is a big issue. north beach hasn't been swept since the eighties because of opposition. but we are getting a lot of requests to sweep. basically our trucks are 10 feet wide. we stick the brooms out and they are may be 12 feet wide. >> there are a lot of blind spots when driving a large truck pedestrians and bicyclists and cars. and navigates this 22,000-pound truck through the city. >> we involve the public here -- to adhere to traffic laws. these routes were developed back in the eighties around the capability of the sweeper. things have changed since then so we have to adapt. luckily, public works is embracing technology and working on a system to alter our maps. this is literally cut and paste -- cut and paste. we will have a computer program soon that will be able to alter the maps and be updated instantly. we will have tablets in the checks for all of the maps. we will send a broom wherever it needs to go and he has the information he needs to complete the safety. what is needed about these tablets as they will have a g.p.s. on it so we know where they're at. you do get confused driving along, especially the inner sunset. recall that to the be made a triangle. >> thanks for writing along with us today. i enjoyed showing you what we do and i urge you to pay attention to the signs and move your car and don't litter. >> good morning, the meeting will come to order. this is the april 15th, 2020, regular budget and finance committee meeting. at this time i will also be calling to reschedule the budget propriations committee. and i am sandra lee fewer and i'm joined by supervisor walton and supervisor mandelman and by supervisor ronen and president yee is with us today. our clerk is miss linda wong. i would like to thank sfgov-tv for this meeting. >> clerk: due to the covid-19 health emergency and to protect members, and the public, the board of supervisors and the chamber and the committee room are closed and so all members will be participating in the meeting remotely. (indiscernible) and the comments will be available for each item on this agenda. at sfgov.-- sorry, sfgov.tv@org, and the number is across the screen. each speaker is allowed two minutes to speak. and the comments to speak during the comment period are available via phone, by calling 888-204-5984 and, again, 888 888-204-5984, access code, 350018. and press pound and press pound again. when you are connected, dial 1, and then 0, to be added to the queue to speak. you will be lunch lined up in the order that you dialed 1 and 0. while waiting the system will be silent and the system will notify when you are in line and waiting. all callers remain on the line until their line opens and everyone must allow the discrepancy between livestreaming and speaking. call from a quiet location and speak clearly and slowly and turn down your television or radio. and you may make public comment in either of the ways, email me at linda.wong@sfgov.org. if you are submitting public comment via email it's included in the legislative file as part of the matter. written comments may be sent via u.s. postal service to city ha hall, 1 dr. carleton b goodlett place, san francisco, california, 94102. >> supervisor fewer: thank you very much, madam clerk. call item 1. >> clerk: it's a resolution approving a second modification of the grant between the city and the low-income investment fund for the provision of child care facilities and technical assistance to support the city's implementation of the san francisco citywide plan for early care and education to extend the term up to two years and to increase the grant amount by $37.2 million. and in the amount of $66 $66.3 million with board approval. >> supervisor fewer: we have a request to continue this item to the call of the chair. and so we will not hear a presentation, but we will call for public comment. so let's open this up for public comment. >> clerk: yes,. >> vice-presidenyes madam chairn the queue. let us know if there are any callers that are ready. >> madam chair, allow me a moment to check the queue. >> supervisor fewer: yes. >> there are no callers wishing to speak. >> supervisor fewer: thank you, public comment is closed. and to make a motion to continue this item to the call of the chair. could i please have a roll call vote. >> clerk: supervisor walton? walton aye. and supervisor mandelman. mandelman aye. and chair fewer. fewer, aye. >> supervisor fewer: call 2, and 3 and 4 together. >> clerk: two, emergency ordinance amending the admin straightive code to establish the covid-19 disaster family relief fund. and item 3, ordinance amending the administrative code to

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